RBLN Driver Installation Guide¶

This guide describes how to install the RBLN Driver (kernel driver + firmware) so your Linux OS can recognize RBLN NPU devices.

Before you begin, check the supported OS/kernel requirements

Supported OS Matrix

The driver is distributed as a runfile that contains:

Kernel driver and firmware
rbln-smi (device monitoring/management)
Runtime libraries (librbln-ccl, librbln-ml, librbln-thunk)

Pre-installation actions¶

Before installing the driver, complete the following checks.

Verify you have a supported Linux distribution¶

Confirm that your distribution/version and kernel meet the requirements in the version matrix.

Note

Ubuntu 22.04 users: you may need to upgrade your kernel to a supported HWE kernel version before installing the driver. Check the version matrix first, then install the required HWE kernel package and reboot:

$ sudo apt-get install -y linux-generic-hwe-22.04
$ sudo reboot

Collect system information¶

Collect basic system information before you start:

1	`$ hostnamectl`

From the output, confirm:

Operating System (distribution and version)
Kernel (running kernel version)
Architecture (x86_64)

Verify the system has the correct kernel packages installed¶

The DKMS-based driver build requires kernel headers that match the running kernel.

Identify the running kernel version:

1	`$ uname -r`

Install matching kernel headers/devel packages:

Debian/Ubuntu family

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)

RHEL family

$ sudo dnf install -y kernel-headers-$(uname -r) kernel-devel-$(uname -r)

Legacy RBLN Driver users (pre-3.0, i.e. 2.1.0) only

If you installed the RBLN driver via deb/rpm packages (pre-3.0), remove them before running the runfile installer. Otherwise, skip this section.

Debian/Ubuntu family

$ sudo apt remove -y rebellions

RHEL family

$ sudo dnf remove -y rebellions

Install the driver¶

Run the installer with root privileges:

Note

The driver installer (*.run) is distributed separately and is not installed via the OS package manager. If you do not have the runfile, request it from Rebellions Support before proceeding (see Contact Us).

If the installer is not executable, run:

$ chmod +x rebellions-x86_64-<version>.run

Then run the installer:

$ sudo ./rebellions-x86_64-<version>.run

Post-installation actions¶

Configure GRUB boot parameters¶

Check the recommended kernel boot parameters using rblnvs:

$ sudo /usr/bin/rblnvs -t grub -v

Apply the recommended parameters and reboot.

Debian/Ubuntu family

# Edit /etc/default/grub and add parameters to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
$ sudo update-grub
$ sudo reboot

RHEL family

$ sudo grubby --args="<parameters>" --update-kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-$(uname -r)
$ sudo reboot

Apply udev rules¶

The installer creates udev rules at /etc/udev/rules.d/99-rebellions.rules. Reload and apply them:

$ sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
$ sudo udevadm trigger

Verify the installation¶

Run rbln-smi to confirm the driver is loaded and NPUs are accessible:

1	`$ rbln-smi`

For an example output, see rbln-smi.

Troubleshooting¶

Pre-installation cleanup required¶

This message indicates a conflicting driver/module installation is present.

Run the cleanup commands from the installer output, then retry the installation.

Example cleanup commands

=================================
Pre-installation cleanup required
=================================

Please run the following commands before installing:

$ sudo systemctl stop rbln_daemon.service 2>/dev/null || true
$ sudo modprobe -r rebellions
$ sudo apt remove rebellions-dkms

Kernel module cannot be unloaded¶

If modprobe -r rebellions fails with "module is in use", stop the daemon and retry:

$ sudo systemctl stop rbln_daemon.service 2>/dev/null || true
$ sudo modprobe -r rebellions

If unloading still fails, find processes using the devices and stop them:

$ sudo lsof /dev/rbln*